Weicker Calls Legislative Session To Consider Gun Control

June 12, 1992|By MARK PAZNIOKAS; Courant Staff Writer

Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. called Thursday for a special session of the General Assembly to consider unspecified gun-control legislation prompted by the shooting Wednesday of a New Haven kindergartner.

Weicker said he plans to have gun legislation ready in time for lawmakers to consider June 22, when they are scheduled to return to the state Capitol to sustain or override a half-dozen gubernatorial vetoes.

"I don't want to hear all the trite, `It's not guns that kill ... it's the person firing the gun,' and all the fuzzy sloganeering of the past," Weicker said. "Our children are getting killed on the streets of our cities."

Weicker said he would not announce specific gun-control measures until he consults with law-enforcement officials.

The governor's unexpected call came Thursday afternoon following angry, off-the-cuff remarks to reporters about the shooting Wednesday of 6-year-old Cesar Sandoval in the Hill section of New Haven.

The boy was shot in the head as he rode home on a school bus with six other pupils. He remained at Yale-New Haven Hospital Thursday night, the bullet still lodged in his brain.

Police believe the bus was caught in the crossfire of teenagers shooting at each other.

"I just have to say to you that [when] it's the kids that get caught in the crossfire created by kids, it's incumbent upon the adult world to look to the adequacy of our laws and our policies," Weicker said.

Weicker, who has not been a major player in gun-control battles the past two years in Connecticut, twice criticized the National Rifle Association, the powerful national gun lobby, for fighting virtually any attempt to limit the sale of handguns.

"First of all, let's understand, the governor is a gun owner," he said. "I own shotguns, and I use them. So it's not a matter of some `wimp' trying to go ahead and destroy everybody's fun."

But he said the NRA has to get the message that Americans are sickened by the carnage involving guns.

Susan Baldyga Misiora of the National Rifle Association said

Weicker's response should be a crackdown on criminals, not on guns.

"What's important to realize is there are controls -- and strict controls -- on the sale of handguns in Connecticut already," she said.

But Weicker said he wants to decrease the number of handguns in circulation.

"I've come a long way in my own thinking as to what's going on here. I'm not so sure ... we shouldn't have a ban on them. Period. For everybody," Weicker said.

The governor quickly added that a total ban on handguns was unlikely.

Rep. Peter C. Smith, D-Milford, and Rep. Robert Godfrey, D-Danbury, proponents of several gun-control measures in recent years, said the New Haven shooting and Weicker's response could lead to passage of proposals that have failed previously.

Smith suggested that the governor propose banning Saturday night specials, handguns that cost as little as $13 for manufacturers to produce and that are frequently used in inner-city shootings.

"I think it's on point in that we find the very inexpensive firearms end up in juvenile hands because they are so cheap, $25 or $30 or $35," Smith said. "It's incredible."

Smith said the ban would not hurt legitimate gun owners, such as collectors and target shooters. "They don't own Saturday night specials. That is not their gun," he said